That 3-0 win over Wolves provisionally moved City to within five points of league leaders and now-FA Cup opponents, Arsenal.
Whilst the Gunners might hold the upper hand in the title race, it’s City who are looking to extend their incredible current nine-game winning run of FA Cup home games.
Not ones to hang about, the Citizens have bagged at least three goals in all nine of those cup home victories, and with 13 wins from 16 head-to-heads against the Gunners under Pep Guardiola (D1, L2), only the brave would back against them.
Headed by Guardiola’s former assistant Mikel Arteta, Arsenal are enjoying a current seven-game unbeaten run (W6, D1) heading into this encounter.
Arteta has instilled his own passion into this group, and without any big name superstars, this is a team that fights for each other on the pitch to great success so far. That’s perhaps typified by backup striker Eddie Nketiah’s return of one goal per match on average since the mid-season break (6 goals).
However the Gunners did lose their most recent FA Cup fourth round clash against a Premier League opponent, which was a 1-0 defeat to Southampton in 2020/21, yet they haven’t been eliminated in FA Cup games vs league opponents twice in a row since way back in 2010-2011.
But a win here would certainly bode well for some Arsenal silverware, as they’ve won the competition in each of the last three editions in which they eliminated City.
Players to watch: Riyad Mahrez has contributed to seven goals across his last five FA Cup appearances for City (G6, A1), and could build on that as he’s had a hand in goals in five of his last six competitive head-to-heads with Arsenal. Looking to outdo him will be Bukayo Saka who last weekend became only the third Arsenal player after Thierry Henry and Freddie Ljungberg to score goals in three straight league games against Manchester United. Yet despite that, he’s lost every personal encounter with City (L6)!
Hot stat: Ten of Arsenal’s last 11 FA Cup fourth-round encounters produced over 2.5 total goals.
